Elevator Up
by howzitthen
Summary: After saying goodbye to his friends, Nick has something his mind. Takes place near the end of 'See Ya'.


**Just another quick one regarding something that could've happened between scenes. Doesn't have any impact on anything we've since seen on the show. **

Nick gave Schmidt a final clap on the back and took a step towards Jess and Cece. He should've known better than to let his guard down around his best friend at such an emotional time.

Schmidt was on top of him before he knew it, grabbing Nick by the head with both hands and firmly pressing their mouths together. Schmidt had enough leverage and enough upper body strength that it took Nick nearly two full seconds to free himself. A two-handed push to Schmidt's face did the trick, and Nick was left again to wonder how his roommate of nearly ten years had decided upon this particular tactic as his go-to display of affection.

Nick was exhausted, and while he'd never say it, he was going to miss his best friend. So, rather than raise a fuss, he simply shot Schmidt a look that said 'Come on'. Schmidt answered the look with a look of his own. It was a look that said what they were all thinking. That Nick was making a mistake, and that they didn't want him do go through with it. And since he could honestly understand where they were all coming from, Nick couldn't get too mad. He decided to let Schmidt's antics slide.

"Just go," Nick said, trying not to seem too cold. "Get in the car."

As Schmidt reluctantly joined Winston in the backseat, Nick turned his attention to Cece. He wiped the Schmidt off his lips and was met with a brief but sincere hug. He had sensed something was going on with Schmidt and Cece earlier in the morning. He couldn't tell if it was a simple spat, or perhaps something that hinted at a bigger problem. He'd have to make sure to get in Schmidt's ear about it next time they talked. Nick didn't know Cece well, but she seemed to bring something out of Schmidt. What exactly it was he couldn't say, but he was pretty sure it was something good.

"Good luck," Cece said, breaking the hug. She turned and ducked into the car, leaving Nick with just one more goodbye.

Jess quickly stepped up to him, turning her blue eyes on him expectantly. He didn't have confidence in what he read behind her eyes. He never did. Even after the night before in the desert, he didn't know where exactly she was coming from.

"Well," he offered, breaking the silence.

"Well," she gave him back, tilting her head to the side and looking at him intently. Looking at him as if he was supposed to say more.

Did he want to say more? His goodbyes to Schmidt and Winston had been brief and, lip locks aside, simple. There was even less involved with Cece. But this? Why was this so hard? After all, she gave him her blessing just last night. Or at least it seemed like she did.

"All right, I'll see ya," he forced out, just to say something.

She looked down for a few moments. She nodded and forced and insincere smile across her lips before flashing her sad eyes past his.

"See ya,"she said.

She turned to the car so quickly that Nick didn't have time to pull his hands out of his pockets and offer a hug. Perhaps it was for the best. They weren't really huggers, he thought as she got in the car. Or at least not with each other. But he was leaving, and he had certainly planned on hugging his friend goodbye. As the car pulled away, Nick offered a half-hearted wave. A wave he wasn't sure was actually seen by any of the car's occupants. He shoved his hand back in his pocket and ducked under the red canopy of the Windsor Arms apartment complex. As he made his way through the automatic glass doors, he tried to think forward. About Caroline, about the new life he was about to start.

Once inside, he walked past a large block of bronze mailboxes and turned left. As he moved down the red carpeted hallway, he passed about a dozen white doors set in the walls surrounding him. Doors to a dozen units not unlike the one he was about to move into with Caroline. He attempted to do the math in his head as he arrived at the twin, silver elevator doors at the end of the hallway: A dozen units here on the first floor of the east wing, and likely a dozen past the lobby into the west wing. As he pushed the button to call the elevator, he tried to remember how many stories tall this building was. It was even seven or eight, he thought.

He didn't have to wait long to find out. The elevator pinged and the doors slid open in front of him. He stepped into the empty elevator and turned around. He located the buttons to the right of the doors, leaned over and pushed the button for five. In doing so, he saw that the building did indeed have seven stories. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator and finished doing the math. One hundred and sixty-eight, he concluded. One hundred and sixty-eight apartments just like, or almost just like, his and Caroline's. He caught the blurred reflection of his frowning face in the doors of the elevator as he straightened up. Hardly matters, he thought. Character is overrated. If this place is good enough for 168 or more other tenants, it was good enough for Nick Miller.

He tried to busy his mind with thoughts of Caroline. With how truly great she had been about his whole freak out the day before. There really was no questioning that, he thought. If their roles were reversed, there is absolutely no way he would've been able to handle that level of doubt on her part. No, not doubt, he reasoned. He had no doubts, after all. This was the right move, even Jess agreed.

The elevator reached the fifth floor and the doors opened. Nick stepped through into the hallway and found himself walking very, very slowly towards his new life. Had Jess really agreed, he wondered. She said she wanted him to be happy, that much was true. And if moving in with Caroline was what it took, then she was on board. But was that really what it was going to take? Nick tried to chase that thought away with another thought. One that brought about even more confusion: what did Jess mean when she said that she would be okay because she met him?

Nick was not good at finding meaning in the words of women. Still, those words gave him pause. After a moment of consideration, he realized that he had completely stopped in the middle of the hallway. A young blonde woman in a red jacket quickly passed on his left, giving him a questioning look. He tried to just laugh it off, offering a nod and a smile. He resumed walking towards his new apartment, again trying to shake the thoughts of his wide-eyed roommate from his mind. After all, he and Jess were roommates, nothing more.

Well, maybe not 'nothing' more, he thought as he reached apartment 526. He faced the door to his new apartment, and considered the past nine months with his curious new roommate. Obviously, things were going to be different with her than Schmidt or Winston. She was a girl, for Christ's sakes. And, weird and annoying or not, she was an attractive girl to boot. Attractive enough to merit a documented oath to keep his hands off. An oath he intended to keep. He stepped to the left of the door and leaned back against the wall.

When Jess moved in, he was still raw from his latest go round with Caroline. The last thing he had wanted was to start to feel things for his new roommate. He feared he would find himself attracted, freak her out, and force the guys to start the roommate search anew. So he came up with the idea for The Oath. If he had it in writing, he figured, he'd stand a better chance of holding himself to it. Coach was deep into his own relationship (deeper than anyone knew at the time) so he agreed, no questions asked. Schmidt took some convincing. He understood where Nick was coming from, and he knew given Nick's state (as well as Jess' state of availability) that his fears weren't unfounded. However, Schmidt was never eager to scratch any woman off his own, personal 'could do' list. Eventually Coach and Nick convinced him by appealing to his logical side: any sort of 'activity' with Jess would likely put an end to any sort of potentiality with Cece. And Cece was a challenge Schmidt just couldn't pass up.

Nick used his elbows to push himself from the wall, shaking his head. The Oath notwithstanding, he was with Caroline now. Besides, outside of some misplaced importance he had attached to their little coyote show down, Jess had never shown any sign that they were anything but friends. So, he again reasoned: Jess was nothing more than an attractive roommate who he was never going to get anywhere with, who smelled great, who had his back, and who seemed to truly care about his well-being. She got in his face about wasting his potential, and when she perceived his reunion with Caroline as him just 'giving up', she tried to make him reconsider.

Honestly, she wasn't that unlike Schmidt and Winston at all. They had also made their opinions about Nick and Caroline well-known. If anything, more well-known. They'd been with Nick longer, of course, and had seen first-hand what that relationship was like. Jess was merely new to the scene, Nick reasoned, and her opinion was offered through a fresh set of eyes. A fresh set of big, beautiful, blue-

No. That's not what this was about. Jess, like Schmidt, like Winston, was just worried about him. Worried he was rushing into things. Worried because, for some reason that was completely unknown to Nick, those three weirdos just cared about him. But so did Caroline. She had proven that by asking him to move in with her, and by being calm in the face of his freak out the night before. This time, Nick thought, things were going to be different.

He gave his face a few slaps, and knocked on the door to the apartment. He waited a moment before he heard Caroline's voice.

"Use your key, silly, "she called from inside the apartment.

Nick smiled and shook his head. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the loose key, plugged it into the door and turned the handle. He shut the door behind him and navigated his way through the stray boxes and misarranged furniture until he came upon Caroline in the bedroom. Their bedroom. She was wearing a green blouse, her hair a bit askew from the hours she no doubt had been spent working on the apartment. There she was, already working hard, he assured himself. This time was already different. She was committing to him for real, and his commitment to her was finally going to be rewarded. This is what he wanted. This is what he needed. This felt right.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, giving the curtains a tug and turning to look at him.

Nick considered it a second. He actually thought the off white curtains went well with the walls as is, but he knew Caroline was thinking soft mint for the bedroom. He guessed he didn't feel strongly about it one way or the other. It really should be up to her, but he supposed he could at least weigh in. He looked at Caroline and smiled.

"I... I can't do this. I'm sorry, Caroline. I just... can't."


End file.
